SEXING BARRED ROCKS

[RIVERA69R]

I heard you can tell the sex of barred rock chicks by looking at the legs and feet if theres black they are female no black males not sure i believe this and comments?

 

[My chicken is cuter]

For most (not all) chicks the females have darker legs than the males.

 

[okiemommy]

I don't know about that method, but you can sex them by the feathers. If their wing feathers are straight across they are one sex, and if you pull the wing and the tips are much longer than the ones close to their body, they are another sex. That is when they are day old chicks up until about 2-3 wks old. sorry I don't remember which is which...I am wanting to say that the roo's will be the wing feathers that are the same length all the way across. Hopefully someone on here can come on and give you better specifics

 

[flakey chick]

The feather sexing only works with flocks that have been bred to allow feather sexing.

The barred trait is a sex linked trait with the males having two barred genes and the females only have 1. The barred gene gives the white in the pattern so males typically have larger/less distinct head spots (like 2 headspots blotched onto each other). Females typically have smaller, more distinct head spots. Also the dark wash down their legs should be darker on the females. Some are just easier to tell than others. My Belinda BR was always a question as a chick. Her headspot and legs were somewhere inbetween the extremes.

 

[speckledhen]

For the most part, I dont believe you can sex BRs by feathers. I just answered this question several times on the board. There are three traits, that taken together, will tell you the sex of BRs about 90% of the time.

Down color very black= female..... silvery/frosty = male
Headspot defined/smallish...female......large, splotchy, with frost around back of head= male
Leg color very dark wash down front=female..little or none=male


On occasion I see a lighter colored female or a darker color male or one that just looks in-between and cant make a decision.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Quote:
I hope I need this info in about 8 days..

 

[okiemommy]

I must have gotten bad info, and it just happened out to turn out the way I was told. I bought some at the feed store, and the feed store employee told me that I could sex the chicks by feathers. Out of the two that I did get, it turned out to be "accurate" but that was only out of two. The other ones that were supposed to be hens (bantams) turned out having three roo's in them

Good to know. I would have been upset if I had gone to the feed store and decided to buy chicks and feather sexed them, and would've ended up with a bunch of roo's!